The Cleveland Agreement was an agreement signed by representatives of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

and Slovak people on October 22, 1915. Its purpose was to show commitment to fight for

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

of both nations. The agreement was signed at the

Bohemian National Hall The Bohemian National Hall ( cz, Česká národní budova) is a five-story edifice at 321 East 73rd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Constructed between 1895 and 1897 in neo-Renaissance style by architect William C. ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. In May 1918, it was replaced by the

Pittsburgh Agreement The Pittsburgh Agreement was a memorandum of understanding completed on 31 May 1918 between members of Czech and Slovak expatriate communities in the United States of America. It replaced the Cleveland Agreement of October 22, 1915. It is named ...

. Representatives of Slovaks were willing to participate only under the condition that the future state will be a

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

. After several months of negotiations, it was signed on October 22 and 23, 2009, in Cleveland's Bohemian National Hall, 4939 Broadway Ave, by representatives of the

Slovak League Slovak may refer to: * Something from, related to, or belonging to Slovakia (''Slovenská republika'') * Slovaks, a Western Slavic ethnic group * Slovak language, an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages * Slovak, Arka ...

, Ivan Daxner and Albert Pavel Mamatevey, and the Czech National Association, Ludvik Fisher and Josef Trzeck-Kramer. Mamatevey was elected as Chairman, Emenuel Voska as Vice-Chairman, Dr.

Štefan Osuský Štefan Osuský (31 March 1889 – 27 September 1973) was an Austro-Hungarian born Slovak lawyer, diplomat, politician and university professor. Biography Osuský was born in March 1889 in Brezová pod Bradlom, in the Nitra County of the A ...

as Slovak Secretary, and J. Martinek as a Czech one. The agreement was about the conditions of Czech and Slovak cooperation and declared a common program with five points.

Agreement

The agreement was following: # Independence of Czech and Slovak lands. # Unification of Czech and Slovak Nations in federal union with national autonomy of Slovak people, with independent legislative, administration, cultural freedom including use of

Slovak language Slovak () , is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken by appro ...

, financial and political autonomy. # free elections #

Democratic government Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choose gover ...

like in England . # This agreement can be amended only with consent of both parties.

References

{{Cleveland History of Cleveland Czech-American history Slovak-American history 1915 documents May 1915 events